


And They Were Roommates

by MatveySunflower



Series: Pocket Full of Stars [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Also they're engaged, Based on a Tumblr Post, Ghosts, Keith and Lance are ghosts, Lance is kind of a memelord, M/M, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Past Character Death, and they were ROOMMATES, how do you think we got here?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 19:57:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17793761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatveySunflower/pseuds/MatveySunflower
Summary: Ghost AU: Lance and Keith are ghosts, in a really popular "haunted" location that tons of investigators go to. Lance messes with them by whispering vine references and memes into mics, while Keith tries to give them genuine evidence that they end up "debunking" to his frustration.Focuses on one specific set of investigators and has a happy ending. Super fluffy and sweet at the end. Rated T for language.





	And They Were Roommates

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing, not the ghostbusters, not Voltron, nothing.
> 
> I wrote this based on a tumblr post that was on iFunny. I commented on the post saying I wanted to write this and a bunch of people told me to link it to them when I do. They all seemed very excited and I was too. Took a while thanks to school and writer's block, but I finally did it. Are you proud of me yet?

Lance leans over Keith’s shoulder with a dramatic sigh. “Pay attention to me, I’m boooored!” He groans. At first, Keith ignores him, so Lance results to blowing cold air into his ear.

Keith tries to shrug him off unsuccessfully. Lance nips at his ear, eliciting a little yelp from the dark-haired man. “Lance! Stop it, I’m trying to read.”

Lance paws at his book, unamused, and whines, “Keeeeeeeiiith!”

Keith rolls his eyes and sighs, closing his book and putting it over on the bedside table. You can still see the wood grains through the translucent object. He turns to his fiancé with an irritated twitch of his eyebrow. “What.” It’s not even a question, but a statement demanding an answer.

Lance is unaffected. He grins and wraps his arms around Keith’s neck, getting up in his business. “Come on Keith, pay attention to me~”

Keith rolls his eyes, but a small smile ghosts across his lips. “That’s all I ever do, though.” He says even as he turns towards Lance, placing his hands on the Cuban’s hips.

“Yeah, because I’m awesome.” Lance smiles and leans in for a kiss.

Keith can’t help but chuckle as he kisses his fiancé back. “Yeah, sure. What are you, five?”

In response, Lance sticks his tongue out.

“Whatever you say, Bunny.”

Lance snorts and shifts so he’s sitting in Keith’s lap. “I do say, _Kitten._ ” He murmurs lowly, making Keith chuckle.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“And _you’re_ adorable.”

Keith opens his mouth to say something, but the sound of the door opening downstairs interrupts them. They share a look, then Keith is shoving Lance off his lap and onto the floor, coincidentally.

Lance squawks indignantly and scrambles to his feet, racing after Keith. He slides around a corner, slipping on the bottom hem of his pajama pants which sends him tumbling into a wall. He barely flinches before scurrying after Keith again, who’s already sprinting down the stairs. “It’s my turn!” Lance cries out.

“You snooze you lose, babe!” Keith yells back with a snicker when he hears Lance trip down the stairs. He zips around the corner and comes to a stop in the doorway. Lance crashes into his back and they both tumble forward in a heap.

“What the fuck, Keith?” Lance hisses, rubbing his elbow.

“Look.” Keith’s voice is nothing more than a breath as he stares with wide eyes into the living room from where they’re both still on the floor.

Lance turns to look and his breath catches. In the living room, among the decrepit furniture and dust bunnies, is a small team of individuals with odd, beeping machines with lights and various meters. “Holy crow…” he whispers back. “Are those-“

“Lance, no.”

“Ghostbusters?!” Lance is beaming again, climbing over Keith and to his feet.

“Lance, stop.” Keith pleads from the floor.

Lance laughs maniacally and darts forward. He flits around the little group, his form flickering with his excitement. “Ohhhh shit, these guys look legit!” He reaches out to poke something, but it just makes a whirring sound and one of the strangers hits the top of it.

“You know, they say that the ghosts that haunt this place were roommates when they died. There were two bodies in the room.” One of the strangers says, looking around at the cobwebs and pointing some small machine at the corners of the room with a critical look in her eyes.

Lance gasps dramatically and locks eyes with Keith across the room. “Oh my god, they were _roommates!_ ”

Keith groans in exasperation and face-palms. “You are insufferable. Can you be serious for two seconds? These people could actually help us, you know.”

“Oh yeah, right, like all the others have helped?” Lance gestures to some graffiti on the wall with on hand, the other on a hip. “Like this?”

“They were just kids. You remember what it was like to be that young.” Keith crosses the room to stand by his fiancé, eyeing the machines as he passes.

“When we were that young, we were in freakin’… space, Keith. _Space!_ Our circumstances were a little different, I think.” He flicks one of the male stranger’s ear, making the guy shiver when Lance’s finger goes right through.

“Right, ‘roommates’.” The other guy rolls his eyes. “They were totally sleeping together, that’s why they were in the same room. Obviously. I’m going to check out the kitchen.”

Keith can’t stop Lance before he’s dashing away to the other room, so he simply turns to check out their machines again. “You guys are packing some serious heat, aren’t you? You really want to know if we actually exist or not. Maybe you can finally help us…”

Meanwhile, Lance is ushering the other stranger into the kitchen. “Welcome to my kitchen~” he sings. “We had bananies… and avocadies.” He realizes that his references are outdated, but so is Lance.

Keith focuses on a stack of papers on a side table by the rotted couch and tries to move the one on top with sheer stubborn willpower. Of course, he’s not very successful, but manages to push the first few off the top.

The girl startles and goes to pick them up. “Are you sure we’re going to find anything here? Doesn’t it all seem too… fake?” She gathers the papers and puts them back on the stack.

The other guy, the one that didn’t go to the kitchen, shrugs and turns a dial on one of the machines. It spins to life and starts beeping steadily like a heart monitor. “I’ve heard of a lot of strange things that have happened around here. I don’t think it’d be too outlandish to say they’re all thanks to some resident ghost.”

“Actually, there are two of us.” Keith says offhandedly, trying to mess with their machines to make something happen. He manages to push a button on one and a light changes to blue from green. “Ah, success!”

Lance follows the stranger out of the kitchen. “I didn’t find anything, Neil.” The stranger says to the other guy.

“No shit, Elliot. What the hell did you think you’d find in the kitchen?”

“Don’t you think we should check all the rooms?”

“I don’t think so,” the girl interjects. “They died in their bedroom, so shouldn’t their spirits be contained to that room?”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that, Zoe.” Neil scoops up his backpack and a flashlight. It’s the middle of the day and there aren’t any curtains left, what does he need that for? “You see, this house-“ he goes on to explain how the roof caved and the house was rebuilt, but Lance is uninterested in that. He’s much more interested in where Neil is going while he’s talking, and the noises the little radio thing in his hand is making when he points it at Keith.

Neil stops and frowns at the EMF reader. He turns it away from Keith and the noises die down a little. Then he turns back towards Keith and they start back up. Keith smirks at Lance, who is staring at the reader with wide eyes. Neil looks up hesitantly, reaches forward, and swipes at the air just in front of Keith’s crossed arms. He frowns down at his reader, turns it over, and takes the batteries out.

“What is it?” Zoe comes up beside him with her backpack.

Neil shakes his head, “Nothing.”

Keith makes an exasperated expression and it’s Lance’s turn to smirk. “You’re no good, Duck. You’ll never be shit. You’re just-“

“Lance.”

“- like your father.”

Keith groans, “I swear, when we finally get out of here, I’m leaving your ass in the afterlife and finding someone else who doesn’t bug me as much.”

“Aw, you know you love me.” Lance crosses the room to dote on his fiancé. “You… do love me, right?”

“Lance, we’ve literally been engaged for four decades.” Keith gives him a deadpan look. Lance searches his face, eyebrows drawing together. Keith softens, “Of course I love you, bunny.”

Lance lets out a whoosh of air, “Oh thank god.”

Keith chuckles and steps towards Neil, who is turning his reader back on. It doesn’t make any more sound. Keith gives it an unimpressed look.

“There we go, all fixed.”

“No, no, no, now it’s broken you idiot.” Keith scoffs.

“Let’s go check out upstairs.” Zoe suggests, leading the way. “If that’s where they are, it makes the most sense that we’d start up there.”

“Yeah no shit, honey!” Lance huffs, an endless amount of outdated references in his arsenal. It’s his favorite part of having visitors, even if they can’t hear him most of the time.

There have been the odd few over the years that could genuinely sense, see, or hear Keith and Lance, but they usually got too scared and ran away and were ultimately no help what so ever. The only thing they were good for was perpetuating the rumors and myths that helped keep a steady stream of visitors to the house and keep it from being torn down completely. Neither of the ghosts are sure what will happen when it’s eventually destroyed. As it is, their house remains a hotspot for ‘paranormal activity’ and is actually quite the tourist attraction for the town, acting as a magnet for thrill-seekers and teenagers alike.

Unfortunately, it seems like none of these three newbies can even vaguely sense the two ghosts right in front of them. Not even the one sticking its finger in Elliot’s ear and making the poor guy shiver again.

~-~-~-

Being upstairs didn’t help the trio at all. Not even a little. Actually, it hindered their progress because, for whatever reason, the equipment they’d brought reacted with the energy from Keith’s book on the nightstand and they gathered around what, to them, was just an empty table. They took readings and talked about how it was “energy left over from a wayward spirit” or whatever. Lance is getting annoyed at them for not paying attention to him. It seems like these guys are here to debunk rumors and discredit the stories keeping the house around. Lance can’t have any of that. He begins doing his best to mess with the readings on their machines.

Keith, on the other hand, is doing everything in his power to help them out. Maybe if they get cold, hard proof of ghosts existing, they’ll be able to help them move on to whatever’s next.

However, his best efforts are being dismissed by the trio of ghostbusters, much to Keith’s dismay. Whenever he offers a ghostly draft, Lance steps in to keep the ‘draft’ in place so it really just seems like an old house with some problems. Keith goes downstairs and tries to push things off counters or interact with anything at all. Much to his frustration, he can’t do it very well and Lance keeps distracting him. One time, when Keith is trying to pick up a little rock to throw at someone, Lance gets into his personal space and they start making out while the trio is upstairs setting up little machines around the bedroom.

Neither of the ghosts realize just what’s happening around their house while they’re distracted by each other, and with a triumphant grin, Lance pulls away from Keith. They’re downstairs by the doorway leading to the little library area off the main living room. Lance steps back, into the library, and grins. “I win!”

“What exactly are you winning?” Keith thumbs the space under his bottom lip and crosses his arms, ignoring his tousled hair and shortness of breath. Lance does not ignore it.

“I totally distracted you from the Ghostbusters big time!”

“Yeah, well… looks like they’re not going anywhere anytime soon.” Keith gestures to Zoe, in the library with Lance, just finishing up setting up another one of those machines in the doorway like the ones they’d been putting in upstairs. It’s just a small thing, really. Almost like a tripod, one on each side of the doorway facing each other so you have to walk between them to get from one room to the next.

Lance eyes the tripod closest to him, “What the hell is it?”

Keith only shrugs and pokes at the other one fruitlessly. “I have no idea, maybe they talked about it and explained everything in detail but we missed it because you were too busy trying to distract me.” He gives Lance a pointed look.

“I take offense to that. It takes two people to make out.”

Keith opens his mouth to retort but is cut off when Zoe yells, “Living room is a go!” She clicks a button on the tripod she’s just finished setting up and a light comes on. She checks a reading on another cellphone-sized machine and nods. Then she leaves the library through the only door and goes back out into the living room. Keith swivels to follow her.

“Hey, wait!” Lance reaches for Keith but yanks his arm back with a yelp when he tries to reach through the doorway between the tripods.

Keith whips back around, “What?” His voice only gives away a very slight amount of panic.

“It just shocked me!” He yells at the tripod. He tries to stick his hand through again but is met with a resistance like electrical shocks. “Fuck!” He cries, retreating further into the room and away from the devices.

Keith experimentally reaches forward and pulls back with a grunt when he gets shocked. Then he reaches forward again and pushes through the invisible barrier. His hand flickers.

“Hey, wait, don’t do that.” Lance warns just as Keith shoves his way into the field and his entire form fizzles out of existence. Lance cries out and lunges toward where his fiancé just vanished from, but smartly keeps his hands and other body parts away from the ghost-fizzling force field.

He drops to his knees and stares forlornly at the space Keith had just been occupying, and stays there for longer than he’d like to admit. Not that he can really go anywhere else: this is the only exit from the library aside from the windows, which he can’t go out of anyway.

The sun is beginning to dip closer to the horizon when, suddenly, Keith poofs back into existence with a gasp. Lance looks up from where he’s been curled up against the wall, and when he sees Keith he jumps up to his feet. “Keith!” He calls in relief.

Keith is still on the other side of the barrier, in the living room, and he looks like he’s been running a marathon. His form flickers every few seconds, he’s got dark circles around his eyes, his hair is a mess and partly standing on end, and his body is slumping in exhaustion even though ghosts don’t really get tired like that. He collapses against the wall and slides down to the floor. Lance can only worry about him from his prison.

“Keith! Keith? Babe, are you okay? Sweetums? Baby? Kitten?”

“I’m fine, Lance.” Comes a gruff response. “That… fucking hurt.” It’s difficult for him to speak, as he feels like he’s swallowed sandpaper.

Lance sags in relief, “Ay, gracias a Dio.” He sighs and kneels down, as close to Keith as he can get. “You scared the shit out of me, Keef.”

“Sorry.” He turns his head to look at Lance, a very small smile gracing his lips.

“It’s okay, I still love you.” He smiles a goofy grin at Keith and then looks up to glare into the living room. “I hate all of you! ¡Vete a la chingada!”

“Lance.” Keith sighs. “Stop it.”

“Their machine hurt you!” He protests. “I have a right to be mad.”

“You do, but please just… yelling isn’t going to do anything.”

Lance sits down with a huff, “Fine, then what do you suggest?”

Keith shrugs, “I need to rest. I think I’ll return to normal if I do.”

Lance’s voice softens fondly, “Alright. They’ll leave eventually and we’ll be freed.”

~-~-~-

The strangers are still there that night, long after the sun has gone down, setting up readers in every room and setting up more of the sensors that shock Lance whenever he walks past but otherwise don’t do much. Lance is livid, pacing what used to be their library since he can’t leave without his form zapping uncomfortably out of existence. “You know, earlier I was excited. Now I’m just tired and I want them to leave. No one has ever stayed this long before.”

“You know,” Keith says from the next room over, “We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for you.” He’s sitting by the door so he can see Lance, but doesn’t want to risk trying to cross the sensor that threatens to extinguish his existence for an indiscernible amount of time again.

“Excuse me?” Lance scoffs, stopping his pacing to turn and glare at Keith. He’s mostly upset that he can’t get to Keith because of the invisible barrier between them.

“I was trying to make them notice us, like always. But you, _like always_ , just distracted me and fucked with them, making everything seem fake!”

“I’m sorry I get bored. I’m not like you, I didn’t fall asleep reading a book.”

In the couple of hours since Keith has returned, his appearance has gone back to something closer to normal. He’s no longer flickering, and the dark circles are slowly disappearing from under his eyes. It’s only these reasons that allow Lance to be upset with him too for no reason.

“No, you didn’t. You fell asleep snuggling up against me like always. Don’t think I don’t appreciate that. We’re together and we’ll always be together, right?”

Lance takes a deep breath, “Yeah, I guess.” His rage simmers down a little and his shoulders slump in defeat. “But never the way we really wanted to be.”

“Hey,” Keith calls softly. “Te quiero.”

Lance’s heart swells hearing Keith not only tell him that he loves him, but also speak in his language. He needs to be with him, and he won’t let some fake-ass ghostbusters stop him. He stands up straight and turns a newly heated glare onto one of the tripods by the door. He focuses all of his energy on it and reaches out to touch it lightly. A red light comes on on top and it starts beeping frantically. He smirks and reaches his hand through the doorway. Nothing. With a little squeal of delight, he lunges forward and wraps his arms around Keith’s neck.

“Oof!” Keith gets the wind knocked out of him. “What did you just… how did you do that?” Pride saturates his voice.

“I just did. Knew I had to be here with you and just… I don’t know, used the force, I guess.” Lance shrugs. “That’s not what matters right now though. I love you too, Keith. So much.” He peppers kisses all over Keith’s face.

Keith chuckles, “I know. You don’t let me forget.”

Zoe rushes into the room followed by Elliot. She busies herself with the beeping tripod while he walks around the library with his EMF reader. Surprisingly, it takes an accurate reading and he sucks in a breath. “No way…” He whispers. He and Zoe share a look. Then, the both of them hurry out of the library and back to the living room, unknowingly stepping through the two entities for which they’re searching.

Lance and Keith share a look and scramble to their feet and follow.

~-~-~-

While Zoe and Elliot clear floor space in the living room and set up what really just looks like a short microphone in the center of the floor, Neil gets ready to go get them all something to eat.

“You should go to Dell Taco.” Lance mentions. “They have a new thing called fre-sha-va-cado.”

“They can’t even hear you.” Keith huffs.

Neil leaves the house and Zoe and Elliot each take a seat across from each other, the mic between them. They each have a pair of headphones on and a pad of paper in hand. Zoe is twirling her pen, Elliot nervously chews on the end of his.

“What are they waiting for?” Lance asks Keith, looking between the two humans.

The other ghost shrugs and approaches the microphone. “I dunno. Maybe they’re trying to hear us or something?” He lifts a hand and taps on the microphone.

The two humans jump and both write something down in their books.

“Wait, seriously, did they really just hear you?” Lance hurriedly joins Keith by the mic with wide blue eyes. “Oo, I’ve got this!” He nudges Keith to the side and leans in as close as he can get. “Testing.” He mumbles. The humans’ faces contort in concentration, like they’re trying desperately to hear something just too far out of range. “Perfect.” Lance smirks at Keith. Then he takes a deep breath and yells, “I DON’T GET NO SLEEP CUZ OF Y’ALL! Y’ALL NEVER GONNA SLEEP CUZ OF ME!” directly into the microphone, causing the listeners to yelp.

“Oh my god!” Elliot exclaims, frantically writing down in his notebook what Lance said, word for word.

Zoe scrambles for another notebook mumbling, “wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no fucking way,” as she flips through the pages.

“Oh shit, they can actually hear us!” Keith exclaims when he reads it over Elliot’s shoulder. Lance smirks with pride. Keith smiles at him, equally as proud, “You did it baby, you actually fucking did it with your stupid memes.”

Zoe exclaims, “aha!” and slams the notebook down on the floor. “It’s a vine reference from the early 2000’s! Like, 2015-20 ish, it’s hard to tell.”

Lance gapes, “Wait, she actually knows?! It’s been like, a bagillion years!” His face lights up like a Christmas tree. “I can’t believe it!” He leans in close to the microphone again and says, in a much more appropriate ‘indoor voice’, “Zoe, you’re rocking my socks off.” This causes Keith to give him a very unimpressed look and raise his hand to tap the engagement ring there. Lance only shrugs and grins at him.

“Oh my god, oh my… no way! No way!” Zoe cheers. “Um… Elliot, ask it something!”

“Okay, first of all,” Lance says, “I’m a ‘he’ not an ‘it’, that’s very rude of you. Second, ask me your damned self.”

“Oh, uh… what’s your name?”

“That’s so boring.” Keith says, now also close enough to speak into the mic so the humans can hear him too. “You know who we are already.”

“We? Dude, there’s two of them at least?” Elliot looks elated. “Multiple ghosts? That’s way more than we were actually hoping for.”

“Dude, wait til Neil comes back, he’s gonna shit himself!” Zoe cackles in a way that reminds the boys too much of their old friend, Pidge.

“We should definitely set up speakers and stuff so we don’t have to wear these headphones.” Elliot suggests. Zoe agrees that’s a good idea and the two start setting up the room again while the ghosts complain to deaf ears.

“They can finally communicate and they take the headphones off.” Keith crosses his arms and rolls his eyes in a very Keith way.

To think that Neil will be completely accepting when he comes back is to be completely naïve to who Neil is as a person. He’s entirely skeptical and starts a heated argument with the other two ghostbusters, the placating voices of their resident spirits going completely unheard once again.

Lance groans, “We don’t have time for this. Excuse my potty mouth, but SHUT THE FUCK UP!!” He yells, again, into the mic. The sound now reverberates around the room from the speakers they’ve set up, effectively shutting the three humans up, as intended. “Listen, Neil, is it? Listen, Neil, we don’t really care for this anti-ghost bullshit you’re spouting right now. Quite frankly, you’ve kept me and my darling fiancé awake with your stupid-ass ghost-zapping traps and nonsense and we would really appreciate it if we could actually get somewhere and not be thought of as make believe.”

Keith is rightfully impressed by Lance, and lets him know it with a friendly bump of his elbow to Lance’s shoulder and a little smile.

There’s silence for a long few moments, then Elliot booms, “HA! Told you they were sleeping together!” To which Keith facepalms.

“Yeah, okay, listen,” he says, “I’m Keith Kogane, and the one with the outdated vine references is Lance McClain. But you probably already knew that based on, you know, history and common sense.”

“Whoa, really?” Neil’s brow furrows. “You really are Keith Kogane and Lance McClain? I thought those were just rumors. You actually lived here?”

“Yep.” Lance smiles smugly. “Me and my boo moved into this beauty when we retired from being a super awesome space ninja sharpshooter and samurai.”

The humans take a few minutes to get comfortable around the dusty old living room, all with pads of paper in hand and pens or pencils. Keith and Lance tell them the cliff notes story of Voltron and what really happened in space and how they ended the war and how they retired and lived here in secret so no one would bother them. At the time it was a small town and everyone was good at keeping it a secret. They tell about how they got engaged, each planning a proposal on the same day and Lance popping the question first and them laughing about it. Things had been going great until one night, the roof collapsed, and doomed them to what’s felt like an eternity since trapped in this house with no idea how to escape.

“Well it sounds like you probably have some unfinished business.” Elliot suggests, “So we just have to find out what it is and help you finish it. Then you can move on.”

“Yeah.” Zoe agrees with a nod. “Any idea what it might be? Anything you didn’t get to do before you died that would have meant something?”

The two ghosts look at each other, each wracking their brain to find a solution they haven’t already thought of. Lance is the first to speak. “Well, I mean, I think we accomplished everything we ever really needed to do. We ended a space war and were in good terms with everyone we knew.”

“I don’t feel like I forgot to tell someone I love them or anything like that.” Keith says, thinking out loud. “Shiro is the only person I can really think of who I’d want to say a proper goodbye to, but I think he knows I’ve already said it. He was here with everyone else when funeral time came around. Said our goodbyes then even if he couldn’t hear me.”

“Same with my family, too,” Lance gets that sad look in his eye he always gets when he thinks too long about his family, “I already said my goodbyes.”

They spend a couple of hours trying to think through more ideas, none more plausible than the last. The humans take a break to eat the food Neil had brought back and forgotten about in the excitement. Keith and Lance take that as an opportunity to rest as well in their own ghosty way. By the time they come back, all of the humans have set up for bed and Elliot is already asleep. Neil settles down too. Before Zoe does, she looks around the dark, empty room and says out loud, “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out what’s keeping you here and get you sent off to the next life.” Then she turns off her lantern light and lays down, so the boys head back upstairs to get more rest.

~-~-~-

In the morning, after Lance refuses to get out of bed on the basis that he deserves cuddles, Keith manages to persuade him to get out of bed so they can head down to where the ghostbusters are having breakfast and discussing possible solutions to the ghosts’ problem.

“You know, I’ve been thinking too,” Keith says thoughtfully.

“Dangerous.” Lance interjects.

It’s normal enough that Keith smoothly ignores him, “There’s really only one thing I didn’t get to do in my life that I always thought I ought to have gotten to do. I think it might be the answer, actually.” He hums and makes his way over to the mic.

“Really? You figured it out? What is it?” Lance follows him excitedly.

“Hey, guys, I think I figured out what’s keeping us here.” When he speaks, the humans jump, and Lance fails to suppress a bark of laughter. “There was only one thing I really wanted to do that I never got to. I was planning to, actually. In fact, we both were, we just never got around to it properly.”

“Stop be cryptic and just spit it out.” Lance huffs impatiently, earning him a look from his unamused fiancé.

“I never got to marry you, Lance.” This causes the Cuban to blush and blink owlishly at Keith. “I proposed but never got to actually go through with it. It’s all I wanted.”

“Holy shit…” Zoe whispers, “That was so sweet.”

Lance surges forward and nearly knocks Keith over with the force of a wild hug; he peppers Keith’s face with kisses. “I love you so much, oh my god, I don’t get to say it enough.” Once he calms down, both ghosts stand close enough to the mic to be heard by the ghostbusters that have gathered around in the living room. “That’s gotta be the reason we’re stuck here.” He says, rubbing his thumb over the back of Keith’s knuckles. “I can’t think of anything else and, well, he’s right. It was kind of a big deal for us but we died before we could tie the knot.”

“Great so… what are we supposed to do about it?” Neil asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Elliot looks between the other two, “We have to get them married. Then they can be at peace.”

The three humans look at each other, discussing something with looks, for a long few moments. Then they all nod and Zoe speaks, “Alright, what do we have to do then? We can’t like, put together a whole wedding or anything like that, but we’ll do whatever we can.”

“Yes!” Lance cheers, “I’m finally going to get to marry McMullet!”

Keith rolls his eyes fondly and starts to make plans with the humans. “Obviously the most important part is the person who’s actually going to marry us. An officiator. Other than that…”

“Friends!” Lance cuts him off, “It’s only been, what, forty years or so? They should all still be kicking, right? Pidge, Hunk, Shiro, Allura, Coran? I… no family though, okay? I don’t think they could handle this.”

“But you think the others can?”

Lance levels him with a stare, “Babe, we fought a war against purple space nazis, I think they can handle a couple of ghosts. Getting them here is going to be the bigger issue. They all have lives and stuff, no doubt, and they won’t just drop everything to come here.”

“Not unless you tell them something really convincing.” Keith agrees. He won’t lie, he’s eager to see Shiro again, even though he’s going to be an old man now.

“Right, how are we going to track down that many people?” Zoe bites her lip doubtfully.

“That’s the great thing about Voltron,” Keith smirks, “you don’t have to. Just get ahold of their leader and he’ll round up everyone else.”

“And that would be…?”

“Uh… Shiro?” Lance offers, like they’re all stupid. “Takashi Shirogane. Out of everyone left, he’ll be the one you’ll convince easiest and he’ll be able to get in touch with the others.”

“If we can find him, even.” Neil quirks his lips thoughtfully.

“Takashi Shirogane… Takashi Shirogane… Shirogane… Oh!” Zoe claps her hands together. “That pilot that went missing on the Kerberos mission in the twenties!”

“Yeah! He’s the one!” Lance woops with glee.

“We save the universe and _that’s_ what he’s known for?” Keith grumbles.

No one hears him over their now-excited planning. Lance is babbling to them animatedly about how they should go about getting everyone together, and who should officiate and all that. They make plans to clean the place up a little and while the men do that, Zoe works on tracking down the remaining members of team Voltron.

Shiro is apparently a teacher at the Garrison, close to retirement, and still very happily married to Adam. He’s the easiest to find based on information from Keith and photos supplied by the Garrison teacher manifest. Keith stares at his picture for a long time, feeling a hollow pang in his chest. He takes a deep breath and looks away.

Once they find Shiro, Zoe doesn’t bother looking for anyone else. “You say he’ll be able to round them all up, so as long as we confirm that with him, I won’t bother looking for anyone else. You think everyone will be able to get here on such short notice?”

Keith can’t talk to her because they’re too far away from the mic, but he puts his hand on her arm to let her know he’s even still around.

She sucks in a breath, “Alrighty, I’ll make the call. But first I need to know what to say to get him to come.”

Keith stands up and goes over to the mic, “I would speak to him directly, but that will just freak him out and I don’t want him to have a heart attack or something. So you’ll have to do it. Here’s what you tell him…”

About an hour later, Zoe is finally ready to make the call. She has almost a whole page of notes on things to say if something goes wrong in her conversation with Shiro. If he doesn’t believe her, she needs a way to keep him on the line so he doesn’t block her calls. That would make their life unnecessarily hard. She dials the number from the website and listens to it ring. It’s picked up by a machine and she punched in a few numbers including his extension. Then more silence as they wait for it to be put through.

Keith’s heart leaps and his breath catches when a seasoned but recognizable voice finally answers, “Hello, Professor Takashi Shirogane here, how can help you?”

For a second, Zoe says nothing. Then she snaps out of it and says, “Hi, my name is Zoe Smith and I have something strange to ask you. I know it’s going to be a really weird request, but I really need you to hear me out.”

They all wait with bated breath until Shiro sighs and says, “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if there was any way you could come to the house Keith Kogane and Lance McClain used to live in?”

Shiro makes a sound either in annoyance or surprise and responds, “Listen, Zoe, I know you probably have the best intentions trying to prove that house is haunted or whatever, but I’m very busy and there’s no way I can drop everything to come down there for your little ghost hunting video. I get dozens of calls like this every month, and I’d very much like to just be left alone. Thank you, but I’m not interested. Have a good day.”

“Wait!” She yells just as he’s about to hang up, “Space dad!”

This causes him to hesitate. “What did you just call me?”

“Uh, space dad. It’s… it’s what they used to call you when you were fighting the war, in space? Uh… Voltron?” She asks nervously.

“How did you know about that?”

“Well, the war isn’t a secret and I took history in school-“

“No, the space dad thing. That’s what the other paladins used to call me. It was annoying.” Keith can practically hear Shiro rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, they did. But you loved it, don’t lie. And… Keith told me.” She says hesitantly.

“Keith..? Okay, this isn’t funny. Keith is dead.”

“I know.” She says solemnly, “I know. He and Lance both. That’s the thing, though, Mr. Shiro, they’re dead but they’re still… here. The house really is haunted, but not the way we thought. They’re still hanging around and they’re actually really nice. Lance is a little annoying, but they’re nice.”

“McScuze me?!” Lance gasps indignantly. “I am a gem!”

Keith covers his mouth to stop him from talking. “Shut up, you’re going to ruin this.”

“That sounds like them.” Shiro’s voice is melancholy. “Why are you calling me?”

They’re in the clear, Zoe lets out a relieved breath. “We figured out how to help them move on from this world and we’re trying to make it happen. We think – well Keith thinks – getting married will do it. They want you to be here.”

Shiro is quiet for a minute. Then, “Just me?”

“No, they want the whole team, really. But figured it’d be easiest to convince you. Keith thinks you’ll gather the rest and bring them with you.” Zoe explains.

Shiro hums thoughtfully, “Yeah, he’s probably right. It won’t be easy to convince the others, especially since we have no proof…”

Keith scrambles to his feet and trips over them in his haste to get to the microphone. “You do!” He yells into it. He winces and lowers his voice. “You do. Have proof, I mean.”

Shiro’s voice is quiet, disbelieving, when he speaks again, “Keith? Is that really you?”

“Yeah, yes, yep. It’s me, Shiro. I’m like… really dead, though.”

The brothers both chuckle and Shiro says, “This is so weird.”

“We fought purple space cats for years, and this is what’s weirding you out?” Keith wipes at his eye, a watery smile on his lips.

Lance gets up to wrap his arms supportively around Keith.

“At least in space, things stayed dead.” It’s a good-humored jab that has them both chuckling again.

“Not true.” Lance says, “I died that one time and came back.”

The smile is obvious when Shiro says, “Lance! Good to hear you again. You taking care of my little brother?”

“As well as I can with us both being, you know, permanently dead and all that. Listen, Shiro, I really need your help getting everyone together for my wedding. We could try, but they’ll listen to you better. Always have.”

A long-suffering sigh, “True, true. You’re lucky we’re still in touch. When’s this wedding?”

“As soon as everyone gets down here.” Keith says. “Nothing too fancy, just a little gather of friends so we can say goodbye and stuff.”

“Don’t call my family.” Lance says before Shiro can ask. “Just you guys, the paladudes and dudettes and our crazy uncle.”

A thoughtful second passes, “Alright,” Shiro finally says, “I’ll see what I can do. Is this a good number to call to get back to you?”

Zoe speaks up again, “Yeah, this is fine. We should aim for next week, I think. Give everyone time to make plans? Maybe longer than that, if you need it. Just let me know so we can all get back here and have everything set up for communication and all that.”

“Someone should be ordained.” Lance reminds them. “I vote Coran.”

“Totally Coran.” Keith and Shiro say at the same time. There’s a round of laughter that dies off somberly.

“I’ll see what I can do, baby brother.” Shiro says before the line goes dead.

Keith takes a deep, steadying breath and whispers, “I’m going to see my brother again.”

Lance smiles at him a little sadly, “Yeah, lucky.”

Keith elbows him gently, “You told us not to invite your family.”

“I don’t think they could handle it.” Lance says honestly. “But we’re paladins of Voltron, there’s nothing we can’t handle if we’re all together.”

~-~-~-

It takes a little over a week and a lot of schedule-checking to get everyone there. In the meantime, the ghostbusters had done their best to clean the place up a bit, getting rid of spiderwebs and excessive dirt clinging to the corners of every room and painting over the graffiti littering the walls. Eventually, though, the day finally comes.

The first to arrive is Shiro, who awkwardly makes his way up to the house and is greeted by three unfamiliar faces. “You must be Zoe.” He says, holding a hand out to the girl. “My name is Takashi Shirogane, but everyone just calls me Shiro.” He’s gained a fair amount of wrinkles around his eyes and the corners of his mouth, and his arm has been replaced by one that’s physically attached to him again. He looks good for his old age.

“Or space dad?” She grins. He rolls his eyes.

Keith’s been working very hard the last week to be able to at least sort of make contact with things, so he uses all the strength he can muster to hug his brother, who yelps in surprise. “What was that?!”

Zoe giggles, “Keith’s been working very hard to be able to hug you. That’s probably him.”

“O-oh. Uh… key, Keith.” He wraps his arms around the open air, feeling some slight solidity in the vague shape and size of his brother. “I’ve missed you.”

Lance, who is standing by the microphone, says, “He’s missed you too.”

Shiro blinks and looks at the closest speaker. “Lance?”

“Yep! They have this cool microphone thing that picks up our ghosty voices and lets you listen to them. Keith, babe, come say hi to your bro.”

The cold semi-solid disappears from in front of Shiro and a moment later there’s a soft sniffle, “Hey, Shiro.”

“Are you crying, Keith?” A little smile blooms on Shiro’s face at the sound of Keith’s voice which he long since come to peace with never hearing again.

“No. Maybe. A little. Shut up. I missed you. I’m so glad you’re not dead yet.”

“I’d say the same but… well… sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Lance shrugs even though no one but Keith can see him. “We’ve come to peace with the fact that we’re dead and all that. Totally not vengeful.”

“Cool, cool, well Hunk said he’s almost here and Pidge should be here in like an hour so, yeah. Allura and Coran were right behind me so…” He trails off as the princess and the advisor walk in. They look nearly the same as they did forty years ago. Allura’s cut her hair into a shoulder length bob and Coran has gained a bit of gray in his mustache. Otherwise, they look like they haven’t aged a day.

“Allura, good to see you.” Shiro says with a warm smile, hugging the Altean. He and Coran shake hands, but Coran pulls him into a hug.

“We’ve missed you too, Shiro.” The quirky advisor says.

“Without a doubt.” Allura smiles at them both. “So, are they… here?” Her eyes trail around the room, landing on the microphone. Her brows furrow a little and Lance shivers as her gaze seems to fall right on him.

“Yeah, Allura, we’re here.” Keith says. Seeing them again is a bit overwhelming, but he has Lance pressed against his side to keep him from simply sinking to the floor. They’re all dressed to the nines, looking like they really are ready for a wedding. Shiro and Coran in suits and ties, Allura in a dress reminiscent of the ones she used to wear. It’s all very surreal to the two ghosts still clad in pajamas with no option to change.

The members of Voltron make chit chat with the ghostbuster crew while they wait for their two remaining teammates to arrive and it’s not long before Hunk shows up with a few coolers and a plate of small sandwiches.

“It’s not a wedding without catering.” He says with a smile while Lance’s semi-solid form hangs off his shoulders. He’s grayed a bit and has smile lines, but looks amazing otherwise with a pair of glasses perched on his nose. “I figured that even if the grooms can’t eat, that doesn’t mean us humans should suffer.” There’s a round of laughter, more chatting. Hunk tells them that he and Shay have adopted two kids who are now well into their teens. Allura and Romelle are planning a trip to Europe for next spring. Coran is fostering puppies. Shiro is a professor at the Garrison.

Pidge is the last to arrive, wearing a tea length green dress with her hair cut even shorter than before. She’s skeptical about the presence of ghosts, but warms up when Keith tries to crush her in a hug unsuccessfully. After that it’s suddenly “interesting” and “scientifically baffling” and such. She’s a NASA scientist, go figure. And, apparently, married to her work. She had a girlfriend but they had a mutual breakup and are actually still very good friends. Pidge has definitely grown up over the past forty years, but in many ways she’s still the same little nerdy girl they all knew up in space.

After a bit more chatting, they guests settle down and they get the little wedding ceremony started. It’s nothing extravagant, especially since the humans can’t see what’s going on, but for Lance and Keith it’s everything.

Keith stands waiting for Lance to join him by the microphone while Coran stands next to him and Pidge plays a wedding march on her laptop. It’s all kind of a bit ridiculous, but it’s still the happiest day of his life.

Lance joins him and takes his hands and Keith says, “Okay, he’s here. We’re ready.”

Pidge turns off the music and Coran begins to speak.

“Today there will be no ‘dearly beloved’, no betrothed, no ancient rhyme of the married. Only vows and a lifetime of love and happiness coming to a head. Today promises become permanent and friends become family. This day is not about the words spoken or the rings exchanged, or about grand parties and overwhelming crowds. Today – this day, the day of Keith and Lance’s wedding – is about love. And if love is not all, then it is simply nothing, and I think that your love is everything. It’s been enough to keep you tethered to this world when you long ago should have passed. You have proved that love is not something you simply say, it’s something you do with the one person in the world that means the most to you. This is your love, and it’s taken a long time getting to you, but it’s finally here. You’re best friends, constantly taunting and teasing and very plainly and obviously having fun together. Everyone could see it, and it was frustrating when you couldn’t. But that is the past. Today we look to the future. Today you are promising, in front of all these people you love, that you want to be with each other and only each other for the rest of your days, however long that will continue to be. Would either of you like to say anything? Vows, perhaps?”

“Yes, me first!” Lance says, earning an affectionate eye roll from Keith. Lance clears his throat and begins, “Keith. Buddy, pal, amigo, babe. I love you so much, it’s not even funny. It took war to make me finally admit this, but I’ve loved you for so long. I was stupid not to act on it sooner. When we were both at the Garrison, I loved you then but I disguised it as jealousy and rivalry because I was too scared you’d break my heart. But now that I have you, I’m never letting you go. We went through hell out there, but every day I got to come back to you was a day that was worth it all. I fought my way through an entire empire looking for something that was there with me the entire time: my soulmate. I’ve found you and baby if this isn’t the best day of my life.” He pauses, eyes watering. “I think I had more to say, but I couldn’t write it down so I don’t remember it. Your turn.”

Keith chuckles and wipes a tear off Lance’s cheek. “Everyone knows I had a rough childhood. Dead parents and foster homes and blah, blah, blah, Shiro’s family, blah, blah, blah. Point is, I was alone and unloved for most of my life so when I met you I had no idea what I was doing. Fighting in the war was easier than admitting I had a crush on the dumb sharpshooter. It was easy to disconnect in space. Easy to forget myself on the battlefield and fight until I couldn’t anymore. We suffered a lot out there, and there were so many things we could have done better, so many fights we could have avoided or fights that we lost that we could have won. It was frustrating and meaningless and I was so done with it all, there were so many times I wanted to give up. But you… you gave me a reason to keep fighting. You made space, the war, the death, the pain, everything… you make it all worth it. I would be nothing without you, still lost and adrift in the vast nothingness, alone forever if you’d never found me and pulled me down to earth with your stupid sunshine smile and ocean blue eyes. The point is, I love you, Lance. More than anything else in this entire universe. I’ve waited so long to be with you, so long stuck in this stupid limbo just being your fiancé. I’m sick and tired of it. I’m tired of your last name, too. So today we’re going to change that. I love you and I swear, as long as I can, I’m never going to let you forget it.”

Coran wipes a few tears away and takes a second preparing his next line.

Lance nearly kisses Keith right there on the spot, but settles for, “I thought you were supposed to be emo, not a fucking _romcom_ in black eyeliner!”

There’s a round of soft chuckles, the audience also sporting watery smiles.

Coran clears his throat, “Okay, okay, I’m good to go. You two have your rings, right? The engagement rings?”

They both say their confirmation, holding each other’s rings up, ready for the next part.

“Keith, as you place the ring on Lance’s finger, please repeat after me…”

Everything seems to fall away as Keith slides that ring onto Lance’s finger. “You are the love of my life, and you are my very best friend, dork.” He adds affectionately.

Lance slides Keith’s on, “With this ring, I marry you: with my loving heart, with my willing body, and with my eternal soul, nerd.” They smile at each other. Coran rolls his eyes affectionately at their antics.

“Keith and Lance, you have expressed your love to one another through the commitment and promises you have just made and through a lifetime of partnership. It is with this in mind that I pronounce you married. You have kissed a thousand times, maybe more. But today the feeling is new. No longer simply partners and best friends, you have become husbands and can now seal the agreement with a kiss. Today, your kiss is a promise. Keith, you may kiss your groom.”

Keith smiles and leans up, wrapping his arms around Lance’s neck to kiss him soundly. Lance presses against his husband, deepening their kiss with tears finally streaming down his face. Their friends applaud, Pidge plays some different music on her laptop.

Lance pulls back, pressing their foreheads together, “I love you.” He whispers.

“I love you too.” Keith smiles at him. They share another small kiss and Lance’s form wavers and he becomes transparent until he finally vanishes. Keith’s heart is warm, tears falling down his smiling face as he watches the flecks of light that were Lance dance away.

His form flickers into view of the humans, he turns to smile at them all in turn. His eyes land on each of the ghostbusters, then each of his friends. It is with a shimmering outline and shaking voice that he says, “Thank you,” and finally passes on.

**Author's Note:**

> I googled a few different wedding ceremonies and stitched some stuff together like Frankenstein's monster but I wrote the vows all by myself and I'm a sap for them being happy so yeah, fight me.


End file.
